Enough is enough

Many of us 70s, 80s and 90s babies probably grew up with parents advising us that keeping good company, minding our own business and finding our way home before dark would be a sure way of keeping ourselves safe and secure from the dangers of trouble or crime.

Well nowadays in this Bahamaland (in particular on New Providence), you could be following these safety measures and still end up murdered.
Recently, an eight-year-old boy was in the confinements of his home, completing his homework like so many other studious youngsters we have here in our beautiful Bahamaland.

Unbeknownst to him and his mother, a young man would soon be chased by a raging, heartless, degenerate with a gun, into their peaceful neighborhood. One of the bullets in that gun would be seconds away from finding its way through the walls of their humble abode and piercing the chest of the innocent boy.

Just like that, the life of that woman’s beloved child would be snatched away forever.

Not so long before that, an innocent baby was shot dead while also in the confinements of a peaceful abode. The child died, leaving behind grief-stricken parents. They are left behind to mourn and try to make sense of how and why the beautiful life they were so graciously blessed with was so quickly and mercilessly snatched away.

I’ll always remember the father’s demeanor as he was being interviewed, trying to express what little he could of a magnitude of grief. His face, his broken heart and his trying to hold onto some kind of sanity in this life that he now lives in, devoid of his child, will be etched in my memory for a long time.

I remember the mother. She was silent. Her grief was shown through her unsaid words.

Not long before that, another innocent child was shot in her home. She had to fight for her life in the hospital, undergoing surgery and recovery.

That recent slew of teenaged boys who were gunned down not so long ago, the unsuspecting victims on the park in Fox Hill and so many others are dying at the hands of people who do not value lives.

What is going on Bahamaland? Isn’t enough, enough?

It is time we stop the talking and start making things change. While we are wasting time and energy beating our gums, the gangsters and degenerates in our society are snuffing out lives on an almost-daily basis.

They have become the executioners in our society, and they are consistent and dedicated to their ‘jobs’.

What about our dedication and consistency? We have laws on the books for the enforcement of capital punishment, yet we don’t carry them out because of the Privy Council’s intervention, or the fear of uproar. While we do our best to appease these people, many among us continue to lose their lives mercilessly.
If the method of carrying out capital punishment is the problem, how about we change the method? If hanging is the issue, maybe we can come up with a happy medium and explore administering lethal injection instead.

It’s almost laughable that there are some who want to treat these clearly inhumane individuals, humanely. How can we show them humanity when there is no humanity within them?

In my opinion, these hoodlums have become modern day pirates. Remember how pirates were finally extinguished from our communities? They were ambushed by the government, imprisoned and hanged for all to see. That struck fear in the hearts of all the would-be pirates didn’t it?

Isn’t it time we again strike fear in the hearts of criminals? They sure have mastered the art of striking fear in our hearts.

I say dust off the old cat o’ nine and drag them into a public square to beat the hell out of their lawless behinds.

Thirty to 40 lashes will do. I recommend increasing the number if the tough guy doesn’t seem to have had enough, and we should do it as often as possible. Consistency is the key. It would deter many a would-be criminal. The cat o’ nine tail is still in our law books, right?

After the public flogging, I say incarcerate them without the possibility of bail. If the law requires bail for crimes such as these, let’s find a way to change it. There are some folks who just can’t be saved.

They’ve been acting heartless and mercilessly all this time, isn’t it about time we switched it around and give them a dose of their own medicine?

I do, however, believe that there are some menaces of society we can save.
Therefore, I say let’s sift through to see which ones we can change. How about we start with the creation of effective programs in our prisons that will bring about the true rehabilitation that we have been pursuing so ineffectively all of these years?

How about we provide consistent counselling sessions with these folks? Doing this individually and as a group, I believe, would be most effective. Have discussions with them on conflict resolution, value of life, respect for others, their lives’ purposes and whatever else can evoke real positive change in them. Let’s also try to awaken or reawaken their knowledge and honor of God almighty, by teaching them about His love for them and others.

Some of us could do better as parents. How about we go back to preaching and instilling in our children, respect and value for themselves and others? How much more of them would change for the better if we as parents made quality time for our children. Let’s not let a moment of misconduct on their part slip away without us correcting them. Consistency makes the difference.

We parents need to get back to living lives in front of our children that we would want them to emulate. If we don’t want them to curse and carry on, we should not curse and carry on in front of them. If we don’t want them to be cheat or become liars, we should not cheat or lie in front of them. If we don’t want them to be disrespectful to others, we should not be disrespectful to others in front of them. If we don’t want them to be promiscuous, we should not be promiscuous in front of them. If we don’t want them to be lazy, we should not be lazy around them.

The lousy, worthless excuses called fathers that aren’t doing their job fathering the children they helped bring into this world should face up to their responsibilities. They, I believe, are one of the main reasons some of our young men are joining the life of crime and destruction. If you can’t be a man and accept the responsibilities of having children, use protection and stop procreating! Take a short trip to the doctor to get snipped. Keep it that way until you are ready to be the man and father you have been called to be.

You young women who are having kids back to back, trying to snare some guy, who isn’t even that into you, stop it. You’ll only end up miserable. Didn’t the first, second or third, time teach you a lesson? Did it teach you anything?

Why keep up the insanity? When Mr. Can’t or Won’t Commit hightails it, you take it out on the poor children in words and actions.

As a result, anger and resentment fester in their hearts. If there is no change or intervention to stop the ruination of these lives, they are likely to become the future monsters of society that wreak so much havoc in the lives of us all.
Come on, Bahamas. Can’t we make these urgent and necessary changes? I am certain that if we do, we will be on the way to having a better Bahamas in the weeks, months, years and generations ahead.